Grabbing a cup of coffee and the morning’s newspaper at a café is nothing out of the ordinary, but if that café is the Winnipeg Free Press News Café, you might run into a few reporters working on their latest assignments.

After a year in development with restaurant entrepreneur Domenic Amatuzio, the Canadian daily opened its News Café in April with a menu featuring items such as smoked salmon with poached eggs, a Vietnamese steak sandwich, soups, and salads.

Publisher Bob Cox said he wanted the venture to be a “community hub,” to put journalism in the middle of the community to gather news. “We wanted it to be a successful business, not just a marketing tool for the paper,” he said.

The café also houses a mini-newsroom studio for Free Press writers, where readers have a chance to talk to reporters, ask questions, and engage in the news.

“With new media, there is always constant contact with our readers,” Cox said. “The News Café was the next logical step in doing that. You have to do a dozen things to keep your audience and make revenue. The News Café is just a piece of that puzzle.”